Costa Mesa homeless count shows small decrease

Dr. Ed Clarke, a professor of sociology at Vanguard University, organizes groups of volunteers before dawn to spread throughout Costa Mesa and count homeless residents. STUART PALLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Cindy, a homeless resident of Costa Mesa, left, laughs while Becks Heyhoe, right says hello to her friend Dave, right. Heyhoe was canvassing a Costa Mesa neighborhood to count the number of homeless people in a given area. STUART PALLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Costa Mesa Police Lieutenant Mark Manley points out a homeless man on a bike as part of a count to determine the number of homeless in Costa Mesa. STUART PALLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A homeless encampment was already empty when volunteers spotted it early in the morning as part of an annual census of homeless people in Costa Mesa. STUART PALLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A volunteer fills out a sheet before organizing into groups to count the homeless in Costa Mesa Thursday. The effort was organized by Vanguard University and the Churches Consortium. STUART PALLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Becks Heyhoe walks back to a car after counting a homeless man in Costa Mesa. Heyhoe is with the Churches Consortium and helped to organize the homeless count. The homeless population numbers are used to make policy recommendations for homeless issues in the city. STUART PALLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Costa Mesa Police Lieutenant Mark Manley, left, and Becks Heyhoe with Churches Consortium, right, drive through an alley way in Costa Mesa while counting the homeless population in the area. STUART PALLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Becks Heyhoe walks back to a car after counting a homeless man in Costa Mesa. Heyhoe is with the Churches Consortium and helped to organize the homeless count. The homeless population numbers are used to make policy recommendations for homeless issues in the city. STUART PALLEY, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

More women in this year's count

The number of homeless people counted this year decreased, but a few other changes have emerged as well, Ed Clarke of Vanguard University said.

The proportion of women counted this year increased, from 18 percent to 28 percent (for 3 percent, a sex was undetermined). The proportion of people considered young, or under 30 years old, also has increased. They made up 6 percent of this year's count, but were only a minimal part of the homeless counted in past years.

"There's some patterns that are beginning to emerge, like college students choosing homelessness during a semester (to) save board and room," Clarke said.

More than half of those counted, 57 percent, were judged to be between 30 and 50 years old, and 37 percent are older than 50.

Of the age group between 30 and 50 years old, 40 percent are women, though their proportions in other age groups are much smaller.

COSTA MESA – About 50 people gathered in the predawn darkness outside City Hall this month, looking over maps outlining square-mile sections of the city. They were a mix of adult volunteers and Vanguard University students, up early to count the number of people who slept outside the previous night.

The annual count of homeless people in Costa Mesa is done quickly and early. That hopefully yields the most accurate number, before people sleeping on the street, behind buildings and in parks have a chance to move too far.

“We cover all the city. Every inch, I hope, is observed,” said Vanguard University sociology professor Ed Clarke, who has organized the homeless census each year since 2009.

He’s been joined by the Churches Consortium, a group of Costa Mesa churches working on homelessness since 2011.

The number of homeless people has hovered around 120 since the count began. This year, the total was 109 people, with a margin of plus or minus five. It’s not a big change, but it is a decrease, Clarke said.

“It says that all of the efforts that we’ve marshaled are beginning to pay off,” he said. “We’re putting people in houses, in rehabilitative services. In some cases, they have actually sent people back to their families.”

The homeless census, called YOU Count, provides the data that helps churches, the city, police department and community organizations focus their efforts, said Clarke and Becks Heyhoe, executive director of the Churches Consortium.

“If we know the number, we can target that number,” Heyhoe said. “We want to see that number decrease because we’ve done a good job” of providing services leading to housing. If the number rises, “We’ve got some serious questions to ask.”

BLENDING IN

Working with homeless people has been a part of Lt. Mark Manley’s job for all of his 19 years with the Costa Mesa Police Department. He’s now part of the city’s Neighborhood Improvement Task Force, formed to address homelessness, problem motels and other ongoing issues.

Manley knows a lot of the popular spots where homeless people sleep.

The morning of the census, he was on his own time, as a volunteer. He and Heyhoe were assigned a westside section of Costa Mesa bordered by Harbor Boulevard and West 19th Street.

“Let’s just make sure (and check) some of the hangouts real quick,” Manley said as he turned his car off a main street to check behind buildings.

“That’s definitely an encampment” Heyhoe said, looking at a pile of newspapers and plastic bags behind a business.

A bike was propped upside down on a stand, but no one was there. Even with the early start, some homeless people already had been up and moving.

Personal safety and theft are also concerns. Heyhoe asked that the Register not identify specific sleeping spots, to protect the people who stay there. Clarke also declined to give specific locations, for the same reason.

A group of runners from the Crossfit gym around the corner jogged down an alley as Manley drove through. Heyhoe didn’t see anyone in a small parking area behind the adjacent body shop. But Manley pulled the car a few feet ahead to look behind a white pickup truck.

Sure enough, a pair of tennis shoes poked out from beneath a mustard-colored blanket. Heyhoe hopped out of the car and tiptoed around the sleeping form.

“Male, middle-aged,” Heyhoe said back in the car. “Well spotted.”

A few minutes later, Heyhoe recognized a couple, Cindy and Dave, camped out in front of a thrift shop. She got out of the car to give them both hugs.

“To be honest, there’s three more here, but they just left,” Cindy told Heyhoe. The couple declined to give their last names.

“Everybody is up and about to do things we would normally do,” Heyhoe said later. “Find a restroom, get some coffee.”

Heyhoe then spotted a woman on a yellow beach cruiser riding past and marked her down.

“She’s a tenacious lady,” Heyhoe said, adding that the woman has been in school studying and living on the street on and off.

“She realizes education is the thing that’s going to get her out of it.”

METHODIC APPROACH

Heyhoe and Manley returned to City Hall just after 7:30 a.m. In all, they’d counted 14 homeless people.

Some homeless sleep in Talbert Regional Park, an undeveloped stretch of land at the end of West 19th Street. It’s too large an area for volunteers to survey on foot in an hour.

Those people likely were counted by the team that covered the area around Lighthouse Outreach Ministries. Lighthouse has Bible study at 7 a.m. and breakfast at 8 a.m., so it was assumed the homeless in the park would have headed there early.

Chris Cuthill was a volunteer for the team that covered Lighthouse and Lions Park, a popular resting spot for homeless people. They counted 65 homeless people that morning.

“It’s an issue that needs to be addressed,” Cuthill said.

The approach by the city, police and churches to homelessness has reversed from what Cuthill saw growing up in Costa Mesa, he said. There were no services for homeless people, and police were only interested in making them move on, he said.

“Only in the last couple of years is anyone focused on doing something about it,” Cuthill said. “It’s fantastic to see that happening finally.”

Clarke said this was one of the best counts since the census was started, with more non-student volunteers than in past years and many returning volunteers. In all, 47 volunteers from Vanguard University, nine churches and elsewhere helped.

Clarke said just the act of counting, as opposed to relying on guesses, has changed things in Costa Mesa.

The value of a number gotten methodically is “non-speculative. It’s not estimated. These are actual people seen. … The conversation no longer goes to, ‘I think it’s growing. We’re probably at 350 (homeless people).’”

“We couldn’t house 350,” he said. “We can take care of 100.”

Muriel Ullman, a consultant for the city and part of the Neighborhood Improvement Task Force, said she didn’t know if the reduction for this year’s count was statistically significant.

“You certainly need a metric to identify who your target population is, so you can measure your efforts,” Ullman said.

“The bottom line is the numbers have not gone up,” Ullman said. “We’re basically managing what we have.”

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